Mehdi Hasan: Trump Supporters' Threats Of 'Civil War' Are 'Not Just Talk'

Ben Blanchet
Updated ·2 min read
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Mehdi Hasan warned that threats of political violence are no longer “just talk” as some elected Republicans allude to “civil war” or the use of “force” amid the criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump. (See the video below.)

The MSNBC host on Sunday was discussing how a possible conviction and sentencing of the former president would play out among his supporters, particularly as Georgia prosecutors look to bring their election interference case against him to a grand jury on Tuesday. Trump is already facing three other criminal cases.

Hasan rolled a clip of one Trump supporter speaking with NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard at a New Hampshire rally last week.

“If Donald Trump were to be found guilty by a jury, where do you see this going?” Hillyard asked a woman in a Trump 2024 shirt.

“Civil war,” the woman responded, adding: “’Cause we can’t live together, obviously.”

These were not the “rantings of a cultish Trump superfan,” Hasan argued, pointing to elected Republicans who have made similar remarks.

At an Iowa rally on Saturday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) declared that change in Washington can come “only through force.”

Hasan then played an audio clip shared by The Messenger in which Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock (R) warned there could be a “civil war or some sort of revolution” if the government “continues to weaponize” departments against conservatives and citizens.

“Now you might say, again, ‘That’s just talk, talk is cheap,’” Hasan said. “But it’s not just talk.”

“Political violence is not just something abstract or something that might happen at some point in the future. It’s happening right now,” he continued, citing a Reuters report on over 200 cases of political violence since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

He also noted a warning from the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election case against Trump that “even arguably ambiguous statements” from him or his team could be viewed as attempts to intimidate witnesses.

“We have to condemn the violence and the incitement of violence. We have to take steps to prevent it from escalating out of all control,” Hasan said.

“The threat of civil war, of domestic conflict, is no longer hyperbole,” Hasan concluded. “And so we just cannot afford to normalize political violence and the threat of political violence in this country just because Donald Trump benefits from it and the Republican Party seems totally fine with it.”

See the entire segment below:

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